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Fair Trade Jewelery Company

How We StartedWe started back in 2006 with a simple question: where did the gold we used in our jewellery come from? Being able to answer that question both for ourselves and our clients became a bit of a mission which, end the end, led to certifications from Fairtrade, Fairmined, the Responsible Jewellery Council and BCorporation (amongst others). But that's skipping ahead.

That question led us to a small group of artisnal miners in Colombia from whom we started purchasing gold which they had sustainably mined. And as the Fairtrade standard for gold was in it's infancy, our co-founder Ryan Taylor travelled to Colombia with a documentary filmmaker to record the lives and work of these community miners. The resulting documentary, The Last Goldrush, can be seen below.

Fast forward to February 2011 and on Valentine's day Fairtrade/Fairmined gold was launched internationally with our company as the first in North America to be working with this gold.

Today, we are probably one of the most certified jewellery companies in the world. And we design, manufacture, retail and wholesale our work all over the world.

For us, the use of certified gold (be it Fairtrade/Fairmined or recycled) and ethical diamonds that are mined, cut and polished here in Canada is part of our DNA. But so is a classic European design aesthetic--our goal is the make the best designs using the best materials and seem to hit that goal pretty consistently.

We're kind of like 'Patagonia for jewellery.'

Fairtrade GoldWe are the first jeweller in North America to use Fairtrade certified gold. The Fairtrade Labelling Organization is the same body that certifies products such as Coffee and Cocoa, and our certification is subject to a quarterly report and review. You will recognize our certification by the Fairtrade logo that is stamped into all of our rings using Fairtrade gold.

FairminedWe are the first jeweller in North America and the second in the world (Chopard was first–but that’s pretty good company to be in) to use Fairmined certified gold. The Alliance for Responsible Mining in the body that sets the standard for Fairmined certified metals. All of rings made from Fairtrade certified gold are also dual certified for Fairmined.

B CorporationCertified B Corps are companies that have met a 360 degree view of their ethical practices and how they change positively impact the world around them. There is a long audit process where we, like other companies, had to detail how our products are made, how we paid our workers, how we effected positive social change in our local communities among many other social metrics. As a certified B-Corp, we are proud to join international brands such as Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s.